IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark Hub

Your source for real-time cloud-based retail data and analysis

Alert: Online retail sales up 14% leading up to Father's Day 2014

Holiday Benchmark Staff - June 17, 2014

According to the National Retail Federation, spending for the Father's Day holiday was expected to reach $12.5 billion - with children and wives flocking to stores and browsing their smartphones and tablets in search of the perfect necktie, tool or electronic for Dad.

So how exactly did Father's Day shopping shape up? Below, are the online shopping trends we saw for the week leading into Father's Day 2014, June 9 - June 15, from the cloud-based IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark, the industry’s only real-time, cloud-based digital analytics platform that tracks millions of transactions and analyzes terabytes of raw data from approximately 800 retail sites nationwide.

Overall US Retail online sales for the week leading up to Father's Day (June 9 - June 15) were up more than 14 percent as compared to the same period last year. Let’s take a closer look at some of the key drivers:

More Dollars Spent on Mom than Dad: Average order value for Mother's Day was $125.23, five percent higher than Father's Day average order value, which was $119.37.

Mobile Traffic and Sales: Mobile traffic accounted for more than 38 percent of all online traffic, up more than 26 percent compared to the same period last year. Mobile sales saw strong growth, up more than 37 percent, reaching nearly 19 percent of all online sales.

Smartphones Browse, Tablets Buy: Smartphones drove 24.8 percent of all online traffic compared to tablets at 12.8 percent, making it the browsing device of choice. When it comes to making the sale, tablets drove 12.2 percent of all online sales while smartphones accounted for nearly half of that at 6.4 percent. Tablet users also averaged $106.71 per order, versus smartphone users, who averaged $89.55 per order.

iOS vs. Android: As a percentage of total online sales, iOS was almost four and a half times higher than Android, driving 15.217 percent vs. 3.4 percent for Android. On average, iOS users spent $103.85 per order compared to $73.08 for Android users, a difference of 42 percent. iOS also led as a component of overall traffic with 25.6 percent vs. 12.3 percent for Android.

The Social Influence - Facebook vs. Pinterest: Shoppers referred from Facebook averaged $99.43 per order, versus Pinterest referrals, which drove $142.75 per order. However, Facebook referrals converted sales at a rate more than four times that of Pinterest referrals, perhaps indicating stronger confidence in network recommendations.

Supporting these overall trends, the IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark also reported real-time trends across three of the hottest retail categories for Father's Day purchases:

Department Stores: Father's Day total online sales grew by 30.5 percent over the same period last year, with mobile sales growing by 29 percent year over year.

Home Goods: Father's Day total online sales grew by 21.4 percent over the same period last year, with mobile sales growing by 25 percent year over year.

Apparel: Father's Day total online sales grew by 13.5 percent over the same period last year, with mobile sales growing by more than 42 percent year over year.